


if we're strong enough (to let it in)

by danverszorel



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode Related, Episode: s03e17 Duet, F/F, Fix-It of Sorts, Pseudo-Incest, romantic kalex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 21:31:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12661815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danverszorel/pseuds/danverszorel
Summary: Alex watches her fall. Watches their prisoner escape to Earth-1. Watches Mon-El catch Kara in his arms and feels her own panic threatening to overtake her at the sight of Kara’s unconscious form. She doesn't know what to do, only that she can barely keep her worry at bay. (AU where Alex accompanies Mon-El and J’onn to Earth-1 after Kara’s run-in with the Music Meister).





	if we're strong enough (to let it in)

 

 

The blood rushes straight to Alex's head the moment Kara begins to fall. She can hear the ringing in her ears, the panic, the pounding of her heart as she watches Kara's eyes roll back into her head as their prisoner dives into a shimmering breach with masterful glee. Alex is running, running, running to Kara, to catch her, to keep her from falling, to save her, but Mon-El super speeds over to her in the time it takes Alex to blink. He catches her in his arms, his own eyes wide with panic and fear for someone he clearly cares deeply about. 

J'onn and Alex are by his side in seconds, feet echoing against the linoleum tile below. Alex holsters her weapon, barely able to keep the quiver out of her voice as she speaks, unable to tear her gaze from Kara's limp form. 

"He went to Earth-1," she says to J'onn as she takes stock of her sister; no bruises, no blood, but her pulse is weak, and Alex is terrified. Mon-El's eyes are wide as he stands up, cradling Kara in his arms. 

"Then that's where we should go." 

Alex nods, "He said something about the fastest man alive," she quickly makes the connection to Kara's inter dimensional speedster friend, the one she kind of wanted to punch for whisking Kara away to another Earth to deal with an alien invasion because his vigilante task force couldn't handle the pressure, without even giving her a chance to let Alex know (or the DEO, who specialize in all things alien) so she could help them, "We have to warn him." 

"Let's go, then," J'onn says, wasting no time, "Agent Schott! Get that breach back open!" 

"Yes sir," Winn says weakly, hurrying to inspect Kara's friend's device to make sure it wasn't damaged. Alex waits with baited breath as he fiddles with it. The blue light is back in a moment, shimmering and pulsating. 

"Okay," he says, "You're good to go." Mon-El strides towards the breach with barely a glance at anyone else around him. Alex cuts him off. 

"Where do you think you're going?" 

"To protect Kara," he grunts in return, "Maybe they will be able to help us once we locate whoever did this and I punch him in the face." Much to her dismay, she relates to the sentiment. 

"You're not going anywhere without me." Alex reaches out for Kara's clammy hand, squeezing it between her own. Mon-El sighs deeply. 

"I'm not letting her out of my sight," she adds, annoyed at Mon-El's barely disguised aggravation with her. Clearly he wants to be some sort of hero for her when she wakes up, and thinks Alex will be some sort of road block to his achieving that goal, but Alex doesn't care about those kind of useless semantics; she only wants to be sure that Kara makes it back to the land of the living in one piece, and do everything in her power to make sure she stays safe.

She also knows that Kara and Mon-El had just broken up. She knows that after a break up like that, with so much hurt and so many lies between them that had started the moment he crashed on Earth, that Kara wouldn't want to be near Mon-El. She'd want space, even if he could somehow be instrumental in saving her. Alex doesn't think he'd hear her, regardless, even if Kara did tell him to give her room to breathe. He's very single minded, focused on his end goal without much thought to what happens in between, and for some reason he thinks he's entitled to her affections. Alex never thought he was good enough for Kara; she always hated his infuriating aloofness and his stupid charming smile and the way that Kara looked at him. She's angry that she didn't discourage the relationship more. She's angry that they're in this position now. She's angry that she failed her _again_. 

She knows that she's been neglecting Kara lately, pulling away, distancing herself. They haven't been communicating as well as usual, wrapped up in things that weren't each other. And she'd said so many things she didn't mean because of Jeremiah, even though she understands Kara's hesitancy to trust him now, when her hindsight is 20/20. She'd been hurt by Kara's seeming betrayal, but she never meant the things she'd said. She knows she hasn't been the sister or friend Kara deserves, not lately, and she hates herself for it. She's been so caught up with her newfound sexuality and the thrill of her relationship with Maggie that she forgot where her heart was. Kara has to be okay, because she needs Kara to know this; know all of it. She just...needs Kara. She always has, and she always will. And it terrifies her to even contemplate losing her, even for just a moment. 

"You don't even have any powers," Mon-El retorts, his eyebrows scrunching together as he narrows his eyes, "You're not gonna be any use to her over there. Just get out of the way." 

"Not a chance in hell," Alex says, low enough to be menacing and firm enough to show that she wasn't going to let Kara go anywhere without her. 

"Let's not fight," J'onn growls, pushing Alex softly away from Mon-El. Kara's hand slips from hers at the action, and Alex mourns its loss, "The longer we stand here and bicker like children, the less we're out there helping Kara and finding the alien who did this." Mon-El clenches his jaw. 

"You're right," Alex says, tearing her steely gaze from Mon-El's, if only for the satisfaction of being more mature. She's not sure why she's so territorial around Mon-El, especially when it concerns Kara. She's never had an issue with Kara's boyfriends in the past, but then again, maybe they were just better people.

(She thinks about James, then, and she wishes she understood why Kara thought they couldn't be together. It's obvious to her that James still cares a great deal for Kara; is probably still in love with her, and she can't see how Mon-El could possibly shape up to someone with as distinct and unflinching morals and kindness and desire to do good as James. Or maybe she's just biased; James is her friend, and maybe, just maybe, she feels threatened by Mon-El's ability to connect with Kara about her world in a way that Alex can't. But that's selfish of her, and Mon-El _is_ the famed prince of Daxam, well known for his trysts and his selfish nature and his comfort amidst his drugged and enslaved planet, so maybe he can't really relate to her at all. Alex tries not to find too much joy in that). 

"Let's all go and find out what's happened to her together. Mon-El and I have powers, but Alex is just as useful and necessary to this operation," J'onn continues. He turns around, spotting the face he was looking for in the crowd. 

"Agent Vasquez, call command and have them send orders through Major Lane at the desert base. She'll act as your director until I return, and Agent Vasquez the go between. Are we clear?" 

Alex listens to the chorus of "yes sir"s reverberate around the room, shooting a grim smile at Vasquez as she pulls out her phone to start making calls. 

Alex turns to Winn, "Let Maggie know what's goin' on for me, will you?" Winn nods. 

"You got it," he says, his gaze flickering to his unconscious friend, "Bring her back safe." 

"I will," Alex says, even though she has doubts. Even though she's scared to death. 

"Let's go now," J'onn commands, and Alex and Mon-El fall into step beside him. Alex takes a deep breath as he reaches out to hold onto both of their shoulders. 

They step into the breach, and it's nothing like Alex had expected. It's blue and solid, yet transparent at the same time, and Alex feels slightly dizzy at the things she thinks she can see flying by all around her. She's trying to get a closer look, to see what's happening, but just like that it's over, and she feels solid metal beneath her feet, and the murmuring of voices just beyond them. 

"Supergirl!" An older man exclaims, twirling a drumstick between his fingers. 

Alex blinks, adjusting to the lighting in the expansive, underground room. It's sleek and modern, devices and various tech littered around the space, and there's a group of people watching them with equal amounts of confusion and apprehension. She and J'onn trail slightly behind Mon-El, who's still carrying Kara in his arms, her head painfully tilted backwards. (Alex wants to hold her tight and never let go). 

A younger man about Kara's age pushes through his friends, confusion etched in his features as he asks, "Kara?" 

"We need your help," J'onn says, his quiet, deep voice echoing in the space around them, "Something's happened to her." 

"Her pulse is weak, and I'm sure her vitals aren't good either," Alex chimes in, glancing around at them, "We don't know who did this, but she needs help." 

"Let's get her upstairs," one of them says, and the young man who'd just spoken to Kara ushers them to follow him outside. They hurry through winding corridors, finally finding themselves in an elevator, heading up, stepping out onto another floor. 

Alex feels increasingly out of the place the more they walk through the building, and it only gets worse when they get to the med bay, walking through what she assumes is Kara's superhero buddy's base of operations. She sees suits resting on mannequins in glass, large TV's with the news on, computers scanning for targets thought the city, monitoring for police activity and 911 calls. It's white and spacious - sterile almost - and it unnerves her just enough to let her hand rest on her gun, feeling the familiar texture of it against her fingertips. It grounds her. 

Two women meet them at the med bay's door. 

"Oh my god," one of them gasps, "Barry, what happened?" The young man who'd taken the lead before shakes his head, running his hand along the back of his neck as he explains the situation to the best of his knowledge, stuttering over his words as he gestures emphatically with his free hand. Mon-El follows the other woman to a bed, placing Kara down gently. Alex watches as the woman - obviously a doctor or scientist by the way she carries herself around the equipment - hooks Kara up to a variety of machines, checking her vitals and pulse and placing electrodes on her forehead and chest, breathing tubes into her nose. She can feel J'onn watching her. She has to remain strong, at least for him. 

She turns her attention back to who she now assumes is Barry. He's a good looking guy, but skinny as a twig, and Alex thinks she could break him in half if they ever went hand to hand – well, if he wasn't faster than a speeding bullet. Even faster than Kara, and Alex thinks Kara’s fast; Barry would be a fascinating subject, if she could ever study him. But that's for another time, when Kara isn't in imminent danger.

Barry seems subdued, like something's weighing him down; in fact, all of his friends do. They all look like they're shouldering impossible burdens, and it shines through in the set of their lips and the crease of their foreheads and the sadness and exhaustion in their eyes. Despite that, Barry seems kind, eager to figure out what happened to his otherworldly friend, and Alex decides then and there that she likes him.

(Maybe she rushes to judgment because he reminds her of Kara, in his awkwardness and his stumbling around words, but it's clear his heart is in the right place, despite being weighed down by the loneliness of being a hero, and Alex hates the way she can see Kara all over him; it draws her in, makes her heart ache for her sister). 

They all find their way around Kara's bedside once the other woman finishes hooking her up. 

"I'm Barry, by the way," Barry says, raising his hand in an awkward half-wave, smiling softly at them, "Wish we could have met under different circumstances."

(There's another twinge of Kara, in his awkward wave, and Alex feels another punch to her gut as she shuffles closer to Kara's unconscious form). 

"Us as well," J'onn returns, and Alex can tell by the faint crease near his eyes that he likes Barry too. Now Alex feels kind of bad for wanting to punch him in the face. 

Barry gestures to the group around him, "This is Caitlin, Cisco, Wally, Iris, and HR." 

"Nice to meet you guys," Cisco says, and everyone nods in agreement. 

"No offense," Barry continues on, "But why exactly did you come here, to Earth-1?" 

"Because the alien who did this," J'onn says, "is coming after you," he points at Barry. 

"How do you know that?" Iris questions, folding her arms across her chest. 

"The last thing he said before he jumped into the breach was that he was looking for the fastest man alive," Alex takes over, and Barry's team exchange grave looks between themselves at the news. 

Mon-El shifts impatiently on the balls of his feet. 

"Come on we don't have time to stand here chit chatting. Let's find the guy who did this." Alex nearly rolls her eyes into the back of her head. Figures Mon-El would be just as insensitive and brash on this Earth as he is on their own. She'd really like to punch him. Once for lying to them all, once for being Mon-El, and maybe a couple of times more just for breaking Kara's heart.

(Alex should guard it better). 

Barry looks like he just caught sight of something unpleasant as he turns his gaze towards Mon-El, trying to make his face seem inviting but failing miserably as he steps forward, "And uh, sorry, but who are you again?" 

Mon-El stands up straight and tall, his hands on his hips as he subtly puffs his chest out. God, Alex hates the kind of masculinity that Mon-El wears like a shield. 

He tilts his head to the side, "I'm Mon-El. I'm Kara's..." He trails off. Alex knows exactly what he was going to say, and she's grateful he at least had the decency to respect the fact that Kara had ended things between them, even if it was still an extremely fresh wound. 

"...friend," he finishes, and Barry's eyebrows shoot up into his hairline at that, "Well, more than friend...sort of, thing, yeah."

And any slight grudging respect Alex might had had for him flew right out the window along with his need to claim Kara as something when she wasn't even awake to defend herself. 

Barry furrows his eyebrows, his forehead creasing in confusion, "Kara never mentioned having a boyfriend." Iris nods along in agreement. 

"Oh it's," Mon-El shrugs, a small smile on his lips, clearing his throat, "It's a new thing. Yes. Very new." 

"Oh," Barry says, nodding his head, "okay." 

Alex wants to slap Mon-El right now, but she knows that wouldn't do anyone any good. So she clenches her fists and bites her tongue and looks at Kara's beautiful, tormented, unconscious face instead, and longs to see the blues in her eyes and the pink of her cheeks, and feel the otherworldly warmth she gives off wrapped around her. She misses her, and the fear coils tight in her chest at the thought, again, of losing her.

"Didn't you two break up?" J'onn asks, his eyes narrowing at Mon-El from the end of Kara's bed. Alex is startled from her internal panic at the comment, and she's never loved J'onn more than in this moment. 

Mon-El scratches the tuft of his beard, eyes darting around self consciously before staring at the ground, "Shhh," is what he says, and Alex hates him and his cocky arrogance so goddamn much. She rolls her eyes, and J'onn moves to shift the conversation. 

"My name is J'onn J'onzz," J'onn introduces, "I am the director of the Department of Extra-Normal Operations on my Earth." 

"Good to meet ya, John," HR says, smiling through his gum chewing, still twirling a drum stick between his fingers, mispronouncing J'onn's alien name for a human one. 

"And who are you?" Barry directs the question at Alex, but it doesn't have any of the interrogatory tone that it did when he’d addressed Mon-El. 

"I'm Alex, I'm..." And for some reason, she hesitates. She doesn't know why she does. It doesn't make any sense. She can't fathom why she suddenly feels she shouldn't introduce herself as Kara's sister; that somehow that word doesn't mean all that they are to each other. It's scary, and she's never had the urge to simply say…anything else before. Because they're family. Why is she suddenly...afraid of that? 

"I'm Kara's sister," she finally says, after a brief second of awkward pause. 

Barry's face lights up at that, "Oh my god,” he reaches over Kara's body to shake her hand, "It's so nice to finally meet you, Kara talks about you all the time." Mon-El clears his throat as Alex smiles softly in return. 

"Can we get back to Kara, please?" He asks, and he shoots some kind of pointed gaze at Alex, almost as if he knows something she doesn't. It unnerves her immediately, but she keeps her eyes steely. 

"Yeah, right, sorry," Barry apologizes, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck again. 

"The guy who did this is from Supergirl's Earth, right?" HR asks, glancing around at each of them.

Cisco rolls his eyes, "Yes, HR. We know." 

"Well, Francisco," HR croons, emphasizing the pronunciation with a roll of his tongue, "Can't you do some fancy tracking work or something like that to find our man?" 

Cisco looks like he's about to say something sarcastic before his eyes light up, "That's exactly what I can do."

Alex follows him out of the med bay, the rest of Barry's team close behind. (Alex can still hear the beating of Kara's heart on the monitors in the other room).

They gather around the computer desk, watching as Cisco types furiously.

"He vibrates at a different frequency than we do, so if I can isolate that, we may be able to get a fix on his location..." He trails off as he works, his brow furrowing in concentration. Alex feels antsy, like she needs to do something, but there's nothing for her to do except stand around and wait, and it's making her stir crazy. She needs action, she needs to do _something_. 

"Uh," Wally speaks up, pointing to one of the screens in front of them, "You mean like that?" 

Alex follows Wally's direction, and finds herself staring at the same alien who had hurt Kara. He's in what looks to be some kind of workout center; there's an elevated track and computers and other equipment, and their escaped prisoner is gazing at the camera, his head tilted to the side, a wicked smile on his face, waving to them. 

Mon-El visibly bristles, growling under his breath, "That's him." 

Barry wrings his hands together, taking a few long strides from his spot next to Cisco. 

"Alright, everybody stay here. I can handle this guy." And with that, Barry's gone, a quick, lingering whoosh of air and the crack of electricity the only thing left behind. Alex is taken aback by the sensation, struck by how different it feels from what she's experienced. She's used to Kara's brute strength and imposing power, the rush of air around her, forceful and abrupt; Barry's speed is swifter, more agile, dexterous and light. She's impressed by how fast he is, even though she knew. He's faster than Kara, but she doesn't think she really grasped that concept until she actually saw it. Well, felt it. 

Barry appears on their monitor mere seconds after leaving the room. The prisoner engages him in conversation, and Barry walks around him in circles, watching. 

"How do you know my name?" Barry asks, and Alex holds her breath as the prisoner claims he knows everything with a flourish of his hand. Alex is reminded of Mr. Mxyzptlk in that moment, and wonders if he could possibly be another entity from the fifth dimension. 

HR glances at Wally, who's shifting uneasily from one foot to the other as he watches Barry on screen. 

"Wallace," he says, "Go. Forget what's happened before. I know you want to help, and you can. I believe you can. So go, Wallace. Go help Barry." Wally looks conflicted for a moment, but the kind words seem to spur him forward, and he speeds out of the room, donning his suit on the way, and he appears on the monitor behind Barry in a few more seconds, leaving another gust of wind and electricity in his wake that catches the ends of Alex's hair, whipping it behind her ears and sending stray papers curling off of their surfaces. 

Their prisoner seems delighted by Wally's entrance, and Alex grips the desk she's leaning against harder, as Mon-El runs his hands across his face in worry. J'onn stands as still as a statue, but Alex knows him, and she can tell in the set of his shoulders how uneasy he is. 

All of a sudden, their prisoner lurches forward at incredible speed, knocking Wally onto his back as Barry runs towards the prisoner, who has backed Wally up against a far wall, taunting him. 

Barry makes his move, but the alien is fast, a completely unexpected development. 

"He has powers like that?" Iris questions, surprise in the lilt of her voice. 

"We didn't know," J'onn says, shaking his head. 

The alien catches Barry by the throat, slamming him into the concrete floor below. 

Wally is screaming, "No!" 

"Lights out, Flash," their prisoner sing songs, and within a matter of seconds Barry's body goes limp against the floor. 

"Barry!" Iris yells, reaching out, even though all she can see is his prone form on a computer screen. 

Wally is up and running to Barry's side, but their prisoner disappears into thin air, waving a triumphant goodbye. Wally rips off his mask, tears in his eyes as he gathers Barry's unconscious form in his arms. He speeds back to their base of operations, holding Barry bridal style, much like Mon-El had been holding Kara not too long ago. 

They hurry back into the med bay, Caitlin hooking him up to a barrage of machines as Wally deposits him onto the bed beside Kara. 

His heartbeats join Kara's, reverberating around the room, and Alex watches the pain flicker across each of Barry's friends' expressions. 

Wally looks distraught, "This is all my fault." 

Iris shakes her head, stepping closer to run her hand over his shoulder in comfort, "No. This isn't on you. This is on the man who did this, no one else. You did the best that you could. None of this is your fault, okay?" Wally nods, although Alex doubts the sincerity of his gesture. Iris pulls him into a tight hug, and Alex can see the pain plastered across Wally's face as he squeezes his eyes shut, holding on tight. 

Cisco makes his way back out to his computers, and Wally follows him out, shaking his head to focus. Alex and J'onn join them, and she tries not to feel anger at the fact that Mon-El stays behind, perching on the edge of Kara's bed. Caitlin remains to watch over Barry, and Iris gives Barry one final glance before moving towards the rest of her friends. 

"Can we find him again?" J'onn asks as Cisco begins typing. 

"We can try," he returns, "I'm going to search around Central City for a signature matching Earth-38's vibrational frequency. No guarantee we'll get any hits, but y'know." He shrugs. 

Alex closes her eyes briefly, trying to stem her panic. She's good with her emotions generally; good at compartmentalizing and burying her feelings under mountains of denial and misdirection. But it's never easy when her emotions revolve around Kara, and it's always easier to deal with them when Kara's around. When she can tether herself to Kara, press their foreheads together and feel her breathing against her, listen to Kara whisper words of comfort. God, she needs Kara. (She doesn't think she could live without her, not anymore). 

She turns to her side, glancing back towards the med bay out of the corner of her eye, seeking out Kara, lying on the bed, wires protruding from everywhere. Mon-El sits in a chair by her side now, and he's playing with one of her hands between his own. Alex feels irrationally angry, because that's where _she_ should be. She should be beside Kara, comforting her and whispering that everything's going to be okay. Not him. She doesn't know why she feels so strongly about it either; she's not usually like that. (But Kara is a different story. Kara is always a different story). 

She turns her attention back to Cisco, who has been speaking, a low murmur in her periphery, while she had been lost in thought about Kara. She tries to focus, to make herself more useful, but she can't. All she can think about is _Kara_. When did she become so useless, when anything remotely dangerous happens to Kara? But Kara doesn't need her worry; she needs her strength now. And Alex squares her shoulders to give her just that. 

They stand around in silence for what feels like forever. Caitlin migrates back and forth between assisting Cisco's search parameters and checking on Barry and Kara. Mon-El paces, muttering under his breath occasionally, doing nothing but get on Alex's nerves. Wally and HR talk quietly off to the side, while Alex, J'onn, and Iris talk sporadically about exactly how they should go about capturing the alien, and how they were going to get him to talk, afterwards. 

"Yahtzee!" Cisco suddenly exclaims, throwing his hands up into the air triumphantly. Alex glances over to him sharply. 

"What?" 

"We got him," Cisco claps his hands together, jumping out of his seat, "He's trying to rob a bank downtown." 

"I'll go," Wally says, striding forward, a determined set to his jaw and a renewed fire in his eyes, "It's my fault Barry got whammied. I should be the one to bring him in." 

Cisco nods in agreement, "I'm coming with you, though." He zips on a leather jacket, fastening what look almost like sunglasses onto his face. 

"Cool," Wally replies, pulling his mask back up over his head. 

"I'll come as well," J'onn says, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Cisco looks at him skeptically, "No offense, John," he returns, gesturing awkwardly with his hand, humanizing J'onn's alien name again, "I respect the whole secret agent thing you got going on but we kinda need people with powers to take this guy down." 

J'onn's mouth upturns slightly into a smile, and he glows red as he transforms out of his human cover identity. 

Cisco's mouth drops to the floor, "Or a literal green alien, we can work with that, too." 

Caitlin hurries into the room, taking a step back upon catching sight of J'onn, "Uh, hi....also, Barry and Kara's vitals just dropped. I would go fast."

Wally nods, cocking his head, "Fast I can do." 

"Let's go," Cisco reaches his arm out, and the shimmering blue of a world breach opens up in front of them. J'onn and Wally follow Cisco's lead, and the breach closes behind them. Iris moves to sit at the computers, tracking their movements with dots labeled 'Kid Flash' and 'Vibe'. 

Mon-El hurries to stand behind her, hands gripping the back of her chair as they narrate through comms to the rest of the team. 

Alex leaves them to it, stepping up into the med bay to sit by Kara's side. Her heart beats quickly on the monitors above, and Alex feels helpless as she watches Kara's chest rise and fall erratically. She reaches out to hold her hand, threading their fingers together. She leans closer, nearly resting her head against Kara's shoulder, her other hand reaching out to stroke Kara's unruly hair behind her ears. It's comforting, to feel Kara's skin beneath her fingers, to feel its unnatural Kryptonian heat. She's curled herself around Kara's furnace of a body millions of times before; tangling their bodies together as they fall asleep to the hum of the television behind them, the chill of the fall air migrating through the windows nothing compared to the heat of Kara's palms against her hips, stroking the bare skin beneath her t-shirt, setting her ablaze. Alex wants nothing more than to feel that again, to feel Kara's joyous giggles against her as she reacts to something funny on the TV. She hates to see Kara like this, so drained of the life that is normally so present and captivating. Kara's resilience against the destruction of her planet, her kindness, and her optimism in the face of untenable odds has always awed Alex beyond belief. Kara has always been incredible to Alex, and if there's anyone who can survive this, it's her. 

"I'm gonna get you back," Alex whispers, toying with a stray curl of Kara's hair, "I promise." She squeezes her hand for emphasis, trying to convey all the love and all the pain she feels in one touch, hoping that wherever Kara is in there, that she knows Alex will never give up on her. 

Alex is so engrossed in Kara and her own sorrow that she doesn't hear the click of Caitlin's heels as she wanders back into the room to check vitals. 

"You really love her, don't you?" Alex startles at the voice, pushing away from Kara slightly, embarrassed at being caught amidst such an intimate moment. Caitlin wears a soft smile on her lips, her hair tumbling in waves down her shoulders in a way that makes Alex's heart beat a little bit faster - she's still getting used to the idea of pretty girls. 

Alex swallows heavily, nodding curtly. 

Caitlin walks around to the other side of Kara's bed, running a hand across Barry's as she passes by, taking a cursory glance at his rapid heartbeat on the monitor above his head. 

"I wish I had someone who cared for me like that. Kara's very lucky to have you." 

Alex blushes under the words, and she's not entirely sure why. She's glad the word sister wasn't used, and she thinks she has to take some time to think about why that label suddenly feels off to her. Not that they aren't sisters, they are, it's just that, for whatever reason, it doesn't seem to reflect the depth of what Alex feels for Kara. Then again, Alex isn't entirely sure the depth of her feelings anymore - there's always been... _something_ between them. Something she could never quite put her finger on. But it has always been there, bubbling up close to the surface when they were kids, and Kara would clean the blood from Alex's knuckles after she'd gotten in another fight, glancing at her through the curtain of her bangs, fingers light and delicate against Alex's bruises; when they were in their late teens, and Alex pulled away from Kara, because her mother thought it was unhealthy for them to be so close, and Alex obeyed, like the good daughter she was always supposed to be, until Kara showed up at her door constantly after a few years of minimal involvement, and Alex found Kara worming her way back into her life, to her heart, and she was helpless to resist; when Alex was spending most of her time drunk, and Kara would always be around, infuriatingly beautiful and perfect, and Alex would hold her just a little too tight, and she'd get that overwhelming need to never let go; when Kara would smile at her, and Alex would feel too much at once, too much that she didn't understand, that she still doesn't. She feels like she gets closer and closer to it every day, but it's still just out of reach. She's not even sure if she wants to know, at this point, what that thing between them is. What if it ruins them? 

She runs the pad of her thumb against the shell of Kara's ear, tracing the slope of her nose and the dip of her cheeks with her gaze. 

"I'm lucky to have _her_ ," Alex whispers in response, her voice raspy with emotion. She's shared too much, and she regrets it immediately, feeling suffocated by the scrutiny of Caitlin's gaze and the clinical smell of the room. 

Caitlin smiles again, full and bright, "You're lucky to have each other." 

"Yeah," Alex breathes, her own heartbeat thunderous in her ears. 

Mon-El yells abruptly from the control room, a happy whooping noise, followed by a loud sigh of relief from Iris. 

"They got him!" Mon-El shouts, eyes bright with newfound hope as he dashes into the med bay, "Alex, they got him!" 

Alex pulls away from Kara as Mon-El skips over, planting a big, wet kiss on Kara's forehead, before he holds out his hand for a high five from both Alex and Caitlin. Caitlin laughs as she slaps his palm, and Alex gives him a grudging smile as she does the same. He grins, bounding back out into the control room as Cisco, J'onn, and Wally come out of a portal, their alien prisoner tied up and unconscious between them. Alex and Caitlin follow, watching as Wally speeds away with their prisoner, yellow lightning zipping past in a blur of movement. 

"Where is he taking him?" Mon-El asks, confusion furrowing his brow. 

"The pipeline," Cisco answers. 

"It's a series of holding cells that dampen metahuman and alien powers, so we have a safe place to hold criminals without worrying that they'll use their abilities to escape," Caitlin finishes. Mon-El nods in understanding. 

Suddenly, loud beeping erupts from the med bay. Caitlin turns on her heel quickly, hurrying back into the room. Alex's heart jumps into her throat as Caitlin yells back that their vitals are dropping again, and she can't contain her rage anymore. It threatens to spill over, boiling inside of her. She's going to make him pay for whatever he's done to Kara. She will do whatever she has to do to make him tell her what she needs to know to save her. 

"I'm going down there," she growls out, "Someone show me where it is." 

"I will," Iris says, her eyes wide with concern for Barry. Mon-El follows close behind, inviting himself to accompany them, as they make their way to the elevator. Alex finds that she's even more irritated now than she was before, simply by his mere presence. Mon-El is impatient, bouncing on the balls of his feet while they descend in the elevator. Alex stands stock still, and Iris hangs her head, fiddling with the bracelets on her wrists. Alex doesn't know what's going to happen. She doesn't know how she's going to get Kara back, but she's trying to compartmentalize, to keep her emotions in check. (Again, she wishes that Kara was here, to soothe her rage, to remind her that she can get through this without losing her head. But Kara isn't here, and Alex has to try to learn how to do this without her). 

The elevator echoes an eerie ding as it opens onto another winding hallway, dim and musty smelling, the walls caked with rust. She and Mon-El fall in step behind Iris, walking towards a huge circular doorway. Entering, they find Wally by a computer screen, arms crossed over his chest as he stares at their prisoner, dropped in a heap in a glass cell in their pipeline, his eyes closed and limbs awkwardly splayed out. Alex feels another rush of anger over take her at the sight of him. Mon-El wastes no time, marching over to the cell in a burst of super speed, banging his fist against the glass. Iris and Wally jump at the sudden disturbance, and Mon-El keeps pounding as he yells. 

"Hey, get up! Let's go! Get up! Get! Up!" The alien’s eyes blink open groggily, and he shakes the remnants of his unconsciousness from his head before pushing himself up onto his feet, staggering slightly as he braces himself against the wall for support. Mon-El steps backward, just slightly, his glare fixed directly on the man who rendered Kara and Barry unconscious and unresponsive. 

Alex and Iris move to stand near him, matching the intensity of his gaze with one of their own as Wally retreats to the arching doorway of the pipeline to watch from a distance. 

"Mon-El of Daxam," the alien croons, seemingly back to his overly confident self again, his brief bout of uncoordinated stumbling passed, "Wonderful to finally truly meet you: the hedonistic, self-absorbed Daxamite prince romantically entangled with a noble, selfless, proud Kryptonian. How exactly does that work?" 

Mon-El shifts his stance, anger clear in the set of his shoulders. Alex hates this man, but she appreciates his candor on exactly why Alex can't understand why Kara, of all people, is attracted to someone like Mon-El, someone who is, for all intents and purposes, the exact opposite of all that Kara stands for, all of the morals and values and ideals that she holds close to heart. For Alex, Kara and Mon-El seem as suited for each other as fire and oil. It's strangely comforting to know that she's not the only one who feels that way. (She knows James feels the same as she does; that Kara deserves better than what amounts to an intergalactic fratboy). 

"Kara and I come from different worlds, yes," Mon-El says, his hands on his hips as his nostrils flare in barely contained anger at the alien's jip at his relationship, "But we care about each other anyway, despite what our people have said about each other in the past. She's the most amazing and incredible woman I've ever met, and she's changed my life in ways I never could have imagined back on my planet. I'm lucky she was the one who found my pod the day it crashed to Earth." 

The alien claps his hands, lips downturned in a half-sneer, "Bravo! What a speech! How could I have ever doubted your love?" Mon-El clenches his jaw but remains quiet this time, anger simmering in the coil of his muscles instead of the sting of his words. 

The alien turns his attention elsewhere, fixing his gaze on the rest of them. 

"Alex Danvers," he says, nodding his head, "Supergirl's right hand woman. Her loving but insecure sister. Her greatest confidant and staunchest believer. Wow. What an honor." Alex says nothing, merely keeps her gaze level at him, threatening. 

"Ah yes, the stoic, brooding type. Why is it that people are always drawn to that? Even aliens aren’t immune to this tired human cliché, it seems. What is it exactly that the Girl of Steel finds of value in you? Don't you just bring her down?" Alex clenches her fists at the sting of his taunts, but she will not react, not like Mon-El did. She will not engage in his childish attempts at baiting a reaction out of her, no matter if the words hit close to home. 

She's always wondered why Kara stuck around. Why Kara kept her by her side. She's sure she could find plenty of others who would be better suited for Kara than she is. The alien is right. She's always been jealous, resentful of Kara's powers and the ways in which her mother appeared to favor the alien child over her own daughter; like Alex would never be good enough unless she too could lift a car over her head and punch through a wall. But that was a standard impossible to meet, and Alex always fell short of the approval she desperately desired from her mother, who pushed her and pushed her and pushed her to be perfect. She despised Kara for a while, until she finally realized she didn't hate Kara at all, and it wasn't fair to push all of her emotional baggage onto a perfectly timed scapegoat. She knows she never quite got over the resentment; she still feels it, even to this day, and the guilt eats her up inside. She'll always feel like less than Kara. But Kara's made her better, stronger, happier. She's always felt the need to protect her, whether from schoolyard bullies or heartbreak or powerful aliens from other worlds bent on destroying the last of the House of El. Alex has always felt an unexplainable attraction to Kara, something that's kept them tethered together for all of these years, despite Alex's fears that a human could never truly be of any use to a woman who could touch the stars. 

"And Iris West! The Flash's one true love. Sucks what's gonna happen to you, isn't it?" Iris flinches at their prisoner's words, tears in her eyes, and Alex fixes her attention back to the conversation. 

"You don't know anything about me," Iris returns, her jaw clenched in determination. 

The prisoner shrugs, "I know everything, but y'know. Semantics, I guess. And to find out that Flash only proposed out of fear? Must be tough, knowing that maybe you aren't really meant to be." 

"Enough of this," Alex says, finally breaking her silence, "Tell us where you sent them and how to get them back." Mon-El nods along with her interjection. 

"I'm sorry, Agent Danvers, but I don't know where they are. Their minds have created wherever they've gone; I simply provided the means for them to do so," he says with a flourish of his hand. 

"Whatever," Mon-El shakes his head, pointing his finger at the glass, "Tell us how to get Kara out." 

The prisoner laughs, twirling in his cell, "You can't. They have to do that all on their own." 

Alex's patience is wearing thin. 

"And what if they can't?" Iris asks, "There must be some way that we can help them." 

The alien puts on a thoughtful face, giving off the guise of thinking. But when he doesn't drop the act with a witty retort, Alex wonders if he actually _is_ thinking about Iris' question. 

"Well," he finally continues, stroking his chin as he paces his cell, "If you really wanted to help, you'd have to go find them yourselves. See if your love is enough to save them." 

Mon-El steps forward, his expression jittery with his need to rescue Kara, "I can do that. I can save Kara. I love her. Just tell me how to -" 

The alien lets out a loud, scathing laugh, cutting off the end of Mon-El's sentence. 

"Oh, how naive, Mon-El of Daxam. How tragically naive."

Mon-El stiffens, "Just because we are fighting doesn't mean I love her any less. We can get through this. I can do this." 

"Well," the alien considers, gazing up and down Mon-El's form, "I suppose....what could save them is...their hearts. Who is Supergirl's heart, Mon-El of Daxam?" 

Mon-El nods his head, slightly more confident again, "I am." 

The alien laughs again, "You are not Supergirl's heart. Please. You've known her for what amounts to about a total of five seconds in the grand scheme of things. Do you really think you have that kind of weighty pull with her? Don't you think her heart is someone who has known and cared for her long before you ever did? You just started dating her. How can you possibly say you are her heart? She barely knows you, Daxamite." 

Mon-El's eyes fill with tears, but he refuses to let them fall, standing tall instead, "If not me, then...who?" 

The alien shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, "That's for you to figure out, I suppose. There's nothing more I can tell you. I'm truly sorry I can't be of more help." 

Alex can't take it anymore. She's tried to be patient, tried to reign in her emotions, tried to be the cold and calculating agent and not the distraught, terrified sister that's just below the surface. She's tried, but the alien's cryptic answers and mind games have set her over the edge. She doesn't want to deal with this anymore. She wants answers. She needs answers, now. 

She explodes, unable to hold in how crazy Kara's loss is making her feel. 

"Enough of this bullshit," she seethes, baring her teeth, stepping forward, passing Mon-El, looking directly into the alien's eyes, "Tell me how to save my sister. Tell me how to _fucking_ save her!" She shouts, her body nearly shaking with the effort of not collapsing entirely. 

"Like I said, Agent Danvers. I really can't say more than I already have. I don't really know much else, to be completely honest." 

That does it. She launches herself into the air, screaming, "You goddamn bastard, tell me, tell me how to save her! Tell me!" She pounds her fist against the glass, and although it does nothing but startle the prisoner and bruise her knuckles, she feels better just from the act itself. Violence, especially since she'd taken up with the DEO, has always been a place she could retreat to when things got overwhelming. Violence was cathartic. (She knew it was problematic; her anger issues had very nearly gotten her kicked out of the organization, and certainly had gotten her numerous suspensions and mandatory check-ins with the consulting psychologist, but nothing has ever seemed to do much good. Nothing's really tempered her anger, and she knows that Kara feels much the same. It's easier when she's around, when they can talk about their shared propensity for anger, their need to punch things to relieve the pressure too often accumulating on their shoulders, and they sometimes can find better ways to rid themselves of the tension and the anger. But without Kara by her side, Alex couldn't care less about her ethics). 

Iris and Wally are shouting at her to stop, their voices alarmed and insistent, but she doesn't - she can't - and she keeps wailing away at the glass, her eyes wild and hair askew. Two strong arms wrap around her from behind, and tug her away from the cell with superhuman strength. She fights, kicking and screaming, pounding against arms of steel as she's dragged out of the pipeline, leaving Iris and Wally behind. She continues to fight as Mon-El drags her through the twisting underground tunnels of the laboratory, desperately trying to get away, and she can feel the hot sting of tears in her eyes. Mon-El finally stops, when he deems that they're a sufficient distance away from the pipeline, releasing her from his grip. They both fall against the wall behind them, heaving from emotion and exertion. Alex leans her head against the cool stone, submerging herself in the silence that now stretches between them. 

"We're gonna get her back," Mon-El whispers, attempting to bring her some relief. His voice echoes off the walls despite the soft quality of his words. Everything is amplified here. (Even Alex's grief). 

"You don't deserve her," Alex says instead, still angry about the way he's acted and the way he's made everything about himself, the way he's pressured Kara and how he's treated her. She hates that he gets to be with her, when he's barely half the man (or woman) that Kara deserves. Why did she choose him? Over all her other options? 

Mon-El hangs his head, "I know." Now that, that surprises her. It's the first thing about Mon-El that's ever surprised her. 

"I'm trying to be better. Someone she can count on. I'm not doing so good, though, huh?" 

"Your ego's too busy getting in the way."

He crosses his arms over his chest, shielding himself, "It's just...hard, okay?" 

"Cry me a river," Alex scoffs. 

"That would be a lot of tears." 

"Not literally, dumbass. It's an expression." 

"Ah," he nods his head sagely, like he's uncovered some big secret to the inner workings of the universe. It makes Alex want to punch him. 

"But seriously," he continues, "I was just...I guess I still am insecure." Alex will never care, but she lets him prattle on anyway. She's too emotionally exhausted to argue with him; an insecure manchild from a planet of outlandish decadence for its rulers built on the back of slavery. What a wonderful choice her sister has made here. It makes Alex cringe. 

"With all of the options she had, I was always jealous. I wanted her to pick me. And even though she has, sometimes I'm afraid she won't stay. Like, James is so strong, and handsome, and capable, and he runs a whole media thing, and he kicks criminal butt in his spare time. I mean, I know he's a human, but he's just...awesome. And he likes Kara, I can tell." 

Alex rolls her eyes. She misses James. He was good for Kara. She still can't fathom why in the world Kara thought they couldn't work out. It was obvious they both cared deeply for each other, and that mattered more than anything else. At least, that's what Alex believes. 

"And then you," Mon-El continues, and Alex nearly stops breathing. Her heart beats faster in her chest as she contemplates what he's just said. _Her?_

"What?" She asks, swallowing awkwardly around the strange lump in her throat. 

"You. When I first met you two, I thought you were mated. And then Kara said you were sisters, but I still always thought that you could have her if you wanted. Y'know? Like Kara's out there looking for someone who's, well...you. I didn't think I could match up against you, so I tried to keep her away from you. I'm not proud of that." 

Alex doesn't know what to think, what he's even...implying. That she and Kara could....no. There's no way. They were sisters. There'd never be something...romantic between them. It wasn't like it, it was never like that. And Alex would never want it to be like that. 

(Or would she? Maybe...just maybe...Mon-El's hit the nail on the head. Maybe, all those things she's ever felt about Kara, the feelings she could never quite name, never quite navigate when the only label that stretched between them was 'sister', were more than sisterly, more than friendship, and more like...romance. No. No. That would be wrong. Sister. She's her sister. It doesn't matter that maybe her stomach swoops when Kara smiles at her and that maybe she feels better, stronger, more whole when they're together, that maybe she gets butterflies when Kara kisses her cheek, that maybe she'd like nothing more than to feel Kara's hands on her skin, and her lips on her own, and.....no. No, she’s not going to go there. Ever). 

"Kara and I aren't," Alex nearly chokes on her words, on the weight of her feelings suddenly pressing down on her, "We're not like that." Mon-El shrugs. 

"I know. But it still made me insecure." 

Alex shakes her head, trying to clear her mind of unwanted thoughts, "That doesn't give you a reason to be a complete and utter tool. The way you've acted is ridiculous, and I'm surprised that Kara's put up with you for this long." 

Mon-El sighs, "I'll try to work on myself. I want to be better. For her. To deserve her. I know I’ve got a long way to go, but I really do want to try to change." 

Alex shakes her head ruefully, trying to ignore the images flashing across her mind’s eye of her and Kara as teenagers, pressed together on the rooftop gazing at the stars, Alex's whole body on fire at the sight of Kara's hair illuminated by the light of the moon, the wistful look in her eyes as she tells detailed stories of Krypton; of the two of them as adults, lying tangled in Kara's bed well into the afternoon and listening to the sound of the rain outside on a dreary Saturday in National City, laughing about Cat Grant's latest antics while Kara traces patterns on her hips and Alex thinks she could lie there forever and be content; of the way that Kara looks when she smiles, cheeks a little rosy; effortlessly beautiful. Suddenly, Alex can't stop thinking about Kara. About her and Kara. About her and Kara as something _more_. 

It's terrifying. 

"Good luck with that," she spits back, not caring to give him even a modicum of sympathy. He's been such an asshole the entire time they've been on Earth-1, and frankly, the entire time he's been on their Earth too. She's had enough. 

They walk in silence back towards the pipeline, footsteps echoing against the large and empty space surrounding them. Eventually, they make it back, Wally and Iris waiting for them by the doorway. 

"We didn't get anything else out of him," Wally says apologetically, and Iris has a faraway look in her eyes that betrays her fear and worry over Barry, "All he kept saying was stuff about the hero's heart." 

"Let's get back upstairs then," Alex rasps, voice deeper with weariness. 

They return in somber silence, their heads down. 

"Everything alright?" J'onn asks the moment they return, reaching out to squeeze Alex's shoulder. 

Alex shakes her head, speaking quietly, "I don't know. I just need her back." 

"We all do," J'onn returns, comforting smile on his face, his eyes warm with compassion. Alex is forever grateful for him. 

"What are we gonna do?" Cisco laments, running a hand through his hair as he twirls in his chair. 

"I don't know," Iris says, wringing her hands together. 

"There doesn't seem like much we can do," J'onn adds, hands on his hips as he adjusts his stance, worry creasing his forehead. 

Mon-El slams his hand into the wall, a sizable dent left behind, concrete crumbling in the wake of his fist, "That's bullshit! We have to figure out how to get to where they are, like he said, because I am _not_ gonna sit around here anymore. Kara needs me!" 

"Calm down!" J'onn growls, Mon-El's wild eyes flitting around the room in panic, "Pull yourself together." 

Mon-El points his finger at Alex, "She lost it downstairs! She would've beat that guy if there hadn't been glass in the way!" 

"Are you kidding me?" Alex yells back, "Seriously? You're gonna act like a four year old?" Cisco widens his eyes and Wally scratches the back of his head awkwardly, his eyebrows shooting up at the scene. 

"If he's mad at me he should be mad at you too," Mon-El whines, and Alex can't even begin to deal with how much she can't stand him in this moment. 

"Enough!" J'onn says, shoving Mon-El backwards, "Act like an adult." Mon-El pouts, stomping his foot, opening his mouth to say something else but he's interrupted by the sudden piercing sound of the monitors from the med bay going haywire. Alex forgets about Mon-El completely. 

"Guys," Caitlin yells out over the noise, "Get in here, fast!" Alex is the first one in, running towards Kara, followed closely by Iris and Mon-El, and then J’onn and the rest of Barry's friends. 

"They're crashing; their vitals are dropping fast. They can't take much more of this and I don't know what's wrong or how to stop it," Caitlin says, fear in her eyes as she hurries back and forth between Kara and Barry's beds. 

"The alien said we can go in to get them," Iris shouts, panic in the waver of her voice. 

"Great," Cisco calls out, half-sarcastic as he runs his hands through his air, "How exactly do you plan to manage that?"

"I don't know!" Iris yells back, tears in her eyes. 

"The alien said that they made wherever they are through their own minds. We just have to figure how to get there," Alex adds, trying not to let herself become overpowered by the erratic beating of her own heart, the sweat covering her body, the terror she feels tightening and coiling itself around her lungs. Kara needs her to be strong. 

"We have to think fast," Caitlin says, her forehead creased with worry, "They don't have much time left." 

"Francisco!" HR yells over the fray, pointing at him with one of his drumsticks, "You can Vibe them there!" 

Wally perks up, "Will that work?" 

Cisco laughs, nervous and self deprecating, "I've never exactly done anything like this; that's not how it works. I don't know if I can go into a place that's not real." 

"We don't have any other choice," Iris pleads. 

"You can do this, Francisco," HR says, "I know you can. You have to believe that too." 

Cisco looks conflicted, torn between his options. 

"Cisco, we don't have time for this," Iris says, nearing her breaking point. 

"Okay," he says, a firmness to his words, "Let's do this." He hurried to the other room to grab his protective eye gear, slipping them on as he moves to take Caitlin's place between Barry and Kara. 

"What's a vibe?" Mon-El asks. 

"It's a long story," Wally answers apologetically. 

"Okay, c'mon," Cisco says, "Whoever is going in I need you on either side of me." Iris and Mon-El both hurry towards him. But Alex knows this isn't right. 

"Mon-El, don't." 

"What?" 

"He said the hero's heart. You're not Kara's heart." 

His gazes turns fiery, "My love can be enough to save her." 

"And what if it's not? We can't risk it." 

"We're risking more by arguing about this instead of letting me rescue her!" 

"Guys, we have to go now," Cisco urges, tapping his foot against the tiled floor, a manifestation of his anxiety. 

"It's me," Alex states, pushing her way to stand at Kara's head, next to Mon-El, "It's me. I'm her heart." 

Mon-El scowls, "What makes you say that?"

"Because I love her more than anything. And she loves me too, just as much. I've known her for thirteen years; she and I know each other better than anyone else ever could. Now get out of the way. I'm going in." 

He gawks at her, mouth opening and closing comically as she shoves him out of her way. 

"Grab hold of me and to them." Alex and Iris both do as they're told, grasping hold of Barry and Kara’s shoulders and taking Cisco's hand. 

"Here goes nothing," he says, and with a brief flash of light and disorientation, Alex opens her eyes to find herself standing next to Iris, on a dimly lit street, a faint yellowish tint surrounding them. 

"Where are we?" Iris asks, looking around in startled awe. 

"I have no idea," Alex replies. 

That's when they hear the groaning. Their gazes snap forward to find, a few feet down the road, Barry and Kara, prone on the ground, a pool of dark red blood steadily growing around them. Alex nearly chokes on her emotions; it's always hard seeing Kara bleed. She hates it when Kara bleeds, when she's weak and vulnerable, and pesky things like bullets and arrows and blades no longer bounce off of her body. It reminds Alex of her mortality, and she hates being reminded that just because Kara is Kryptonian, it doesn't mean she can't still get hurt; can't still die. 

"Barry!" Iris screams, running towards him. It takes Alex a moment to get over her shock.

"Kara!" She yells, following Iris' footsteps, sprinting towards her sister and collapsing on the ground beside her. 

There's a bullet in Kara's stomach, embedded deep inside of her, and Alex shoves her hand immediately over the wound, trying to staunch the gushing flow of blood, putting all her weight into it. 

"Alex," Kara breathes, her eyes faded and cloudy as they gaze up at her, her hair splayed out on the pavement behind her in a way that would have struck Alex as beautiful, had it been on her pillow in bed and not in the middle of a grimy road, where she's in the process of bleeding out, "I can't believe you're here." 

Alex's tears flow freely at the sound of Kara's voice, weak but present. God, she'd missed her voice.   
She presses harder against the wound, feeling blood ooze through her fingers. Kara is pale, tired; she doesn't have much life left in her, and Alex doesn't know what to do. She can't stop the bleeding and she can't get the bullet out and she can't make her better and she doesn't know how to get her out of here. She feels useless. Helpless and useless and she wants to scream to the heavens about how unfair it all is. But she doesn't. Because if this is it...if this is all she has left, then she needs to see it through to the end. 

"You know I'd always come for you," Alex sniffles, chuckling softly as she presses her other hand against the flow of blood from Kara's abdomen. 

Kara smiles, reaching out to grasp one of Alex's wrists, stroking softly. 

"I don't know how to save you," Alex cries out, wishing she could wipe her tears away but knowing her hands are covered in blood. 

Kara coughs in response, blood trickling out of the side of her mouth, and Alex can barely breathe at the knowledge that Kara is probably going to die here. 

Alex lets out a full sob, "I'm so sorry I've been so shitty lately. I didn't mean those things I said. I'm so, so sorry, Kara." 

Kara smiles again, weaker this time, blinking against the need to close her eyes for good, "S'okay. I forgive you." 

Alex heaves in a stuttering breath, watching Kara's eyes glaze over. 

Kara reaches up then, removing her hand from Alex's wrist, fingers brushing against Alex's chin, before falling back down. 

"I love you," Kara says, actively fighting for consciousness now. 

Alex chokes on her own tears as Kara's eyes begin to drift shut, her head lolling to the side as her heartbeat slows and the rush of blood against Alex's fingers thins out. 

She panics. Kara can't die. There's so much she still needs to say, so much they still have to do. They're supposed to have a life together - Kara's not supposed to go, not yet. Not yet. Alex needs her, she's always needed her, ever since they were kids; she needs her more than she's ever needed anyone or anything else in the world, and she can't....she can't do this without her. She can't do any of this without Kara. It's supposed to be her and Kara against the world. That's what they'd promised isn't it? They're supposed to do this together. Not apart, not like this. Not when Alex still needs to tell her that she... 

Oh. 

Her feelings hit her like a ton of bricks, but suddenly, it all makes sense. The jealously she’s felt towards Mon-El, the awkwardness she’s always felt around Kara, to one degree or another. The way her overprotective streak always went a step too far; their borderline codependency a bit too strange. It explains the butterflies and the unexplainable tightness she would get in her chest whenever Kara would smile at her; the yearning, aching pull that Alex always felt towards her. The way that Alex looked at Kara when they were younger, before she had any idea she even liked girls, filled with questions and desires and need. Even now, glancing at Kara while she's eating ice cream on the couch, laughing and happy, she'd still find herself filled with an emotion she couldn't explain; a blooming in her chest that warmed her to the tips of her toes; that made her feel at home. Yeah, Alex has been in love with Kara for ages (she's pretty sure of that now), and she's been denying it from herself since the very first day she ever felt herself blush around Kara. And it terrifies Alex, because she shouldn't be in love with her own sister, but there's no time for Alex to panic herself out of this realization, like she could have done if she was in any other situation instead of this one. But right now, there's only this moment, and there might not ever be another. And Alex acts like an absolute idiot. She'll regret it later, of course, but for now, it's all that matters. 

"I love you, too," she sobs, "Oh, God, I love you too. Please don't leave me." But her pleas fall on deaf ears as Kara's eyes finally close to the world. And Alex leans down and does the only thing she can think of to do in that exact moment. She presses their lips together in a tearful, wordless goodbye. 

There's a bright, intense light that encompasses them, spilling over their bodies, and before Alex can even register what's happened she hears triumphant, happy voices in the background, and suddenly, someone returning her kiss. 

Kara's lips move against her own, soft and sweet and gentle, just the glide of themselves against each other, a passion that lights Alex on fire, that makes her heart pound in her chest as Kara kisses her into a completely dumbfounded state. It's like kissing Maggie, only better. Oh _shit_. Maggie. 

Alex pulls away, realizing the ramifications of what she's just done. She kissed another girl. Not only another girl, but her own _sister_ for Christ's sake. She can't believe what she's done. She's ruined everything. Neither Maggie nor Kara will ever speak to her again. 

When she opens her eyes, Kara is staring at her in awe. Her hair is tousled, messy and tumbling down her shoulders, a radiant gleam of gold. Her cheeks are tinged pink, her mouth open slightly, staring at Alex like she's seeing her for the first time. (Alex thinks she's the most beautiful thing she's ever seen). 

"Alex," she breathes, "You saved me." 

Alex smiles, leaning forward to press their foreheads together, "Always." No matter what's going to change between them after this, Alex will always be there when Kara needs her. That much she knows for sure. 

"Oh, bravo! Really well done, excellent work you guys," their alien prisoner claps from the doorway to the med bay, strolling into the room like he hadn't just been trapped in a cell that didn't allow the use of his powers, "Looks like you figured it all out, and your love _was_ enough to save them. Truly incredible." 

"What the hell?!" Cisco exclaims, looking around the room, "How'd you get out?" 

The prisoner shrugs his shoulders, "Cisco, do you really think that cell could hold me? C'mon." 

Cisco narrows his eyes in annoyance. 

Barry clears his throat, stuttering slightly, "No, I'm sorry, wha-what's going on? Why did you do this to us?" 

The alien smiles, glancing around the room at each of them with a flourish of his hands, "I did it because...I believe in the good guys." 

Kara glances up at Alex as he says this, still leaning into her side, and Barry furrows his brow in confusion, clearly skeptical. 

"I told you when we first met, it was to teach all of you a lesson. I see everything. And what I saw," he gestures between both Barry and Kara, "was two people with two broken hearts." 

Alex stiffens next to Kara, watching as Mon-El gazes at Kara with longing, a bit of hatred in his eyes reserved just for Alex. 

"So the lesson was...?" Kara asks, trailing off. 

"Love, Supergirl," the alien responds, a twinkle in his eye, "Barry and Iris needed to think about how important their love was, despite all the hardships and obstacles in their way, and to see that it was more important than whatever they each personally believed, as a result of their break up. And Kara, she and Mon-El had just been through a messy breakup, but I could see that her heart yearned for something greater, something bigger and realer than what she had with Mon-El, even if she couldn't see it quite yet. I saw Kara and Alex; two lost and lonely souls, born light years and planets apart, somehow ending up with each other, too afraid to ask themselves that if the things they felt were reciprocated, even though they've both been burning for each other, unawares, for years. I thought you guys needed a little push to see what was right in front of you, shake it up a little and make you realize your feelings. Ultimately, in the end, love is about letting yourself be saved. It's not just about saving other people, even if you are superheroes. It's so much more than that. And I wanted you guys to see that." 

Alex feels Kara reach out and thread their fingers together. Maybe things wouldn't turn out as awful as she'd imagined they would, right after she'd kissed Kara. 

"Anyway," the alien says, walking across the room, "Sorry to mess with you a little bit, but I was just trying to get you to play the game, do the song and dance." He emphasizes the last part by shuffling around on his feet in a half hearted dance move. 

HR speaks up, "Are you like...from another Earth, uh, multiverse, uh, universe or something?" 

The alien blows air out from between his lips, looking at them all with a smile on his face, "Yeah, you wouldn't even understand where I come from." 

That seems to confirm Alex's previous suspicions that he was from another dimension, much like Mr. Mxyzptlk. He starts to walk away, but Barry stops him again. 

"Wait, uh, I'm sorry, but you're just gonna go...teach somebody else a lesson."

The alien nods, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm gonna do." 

"Oh," is all that Barry can even think to say to that. 

The alien slips into the hallway, singing. And with that, he fades away in a poof, leaving everyone in a sort of stunned silence. 

"Well," HR says, glancing around the room, a smile on his face, "That happened." 

Alex feels Kara breathe heavily against her, and she turns her attention away from the others, who have started talking about getting home and what Barry has experienced, focusing on the weight of Kara's hand in her own. Her feelings threaten to drown her, drag her underneath and never let her go. She can't believe she was so blind to the way she felt for so long. It’s so strong. 

Kara looks up at her, a sad sort of expression on her face, "We should probably talk." 

Alex nods, swallowing the lump in her throat, "Yeah. I'm sorry." 

Kara smiles softly, "Don't be sorry. Unless you really are." Her eyes are hopeful, hopeful and oh-so blue. Alex feels weak. 

"Hey," Mon-El steps in, and Alex immediately drops Kara's hand, pushing away from her bedside. 

"Hey, Mon-El," Kara returns, looking up at him sadly, "I'm still mad at you for what you did. I deserve better than being lied to, and just because you helped rescue me doesn't mean I'm just going to forget everything that's happened. Look, I said it when we first developed feelings for each other. We're just too different. We don't fit; we don't work well together. I thought that the way I felt about you would be enough to move past that but it wasn't. And add on top of that the fact that you've been lying to my face ever since you got here? That was the final straw, Mon-El. It was enough that you disrespected me, and you ignored my wishes, and you were always jealous and possessive and rude, but it was an entirely different thing that our entire relationship was built on a lie. And I can't keep going on like that. We're done. For good." 

Mon-El's lower lip wobbles as tears fill his eyes, spilling over onto his cheeks as he blinks away his pain, "Kara, please, I can be better." 

Kara shakes her head, "You should have _been_ better. You should have listened to me, you should have told me the truth. It's too late for that now." 

Mon-El reaches out, cradling her wrist between his fingers, "What we have is the most real thing I've ever felt. Please don't give up on me. Please. I need you. I'm not the Prince you think I am. I'm just Mon-El. I'm just a guy, a guy who's desperately in love with. A guy who wants to be whatever you need. Please. Take me back. I will never lie to you ever again, I promise." His expression is open and earnest, a plea for understanding. Alex at least appreciates his groveling. 

Kara closes her eyes quickly, taking in a deep breath, emotion nearly overcoming her, "I can't, Mon-El. I'm sorry. We can't be together, not like that. I'm willing to try to be friends again, but I need some space away from you. Please, if you really do love me, you'll listen to me, and you'll give me at least this." 

Mon-El lets out an audible half-sob, stepping away, his shoulders shaking as he covers his face with his hands. 

"I think it's time for us to go home," J'onn says, and he ushers Mon-El out into the hallway, still trying to control his tears. 

Barry nods, pushing up off of the bed and standing on unsteady feet, motioning to Cisco to get a breach open downstairs. 

Alex follows them, watching as Kara and Barry trail behind them at a distance, talking quietly to each other, tired looks in their eyes. They embrace each other as the elevator dings open, a long, hard hug full of squeezing arms. 

"It was good to see you, despite the circumstances," Barry says as they step into earshot, "Don't be a stranger, alright?" 

Kara nods, a brilliant smile lighting up her face, "I won't. If you ever need me, you know where to find me." 

"Absolutely. Have a safe trip home." 

"Thanks, Barry." 

She pulls him into another unexpected hug, and he laughs as she picks him up off of his feet. 

"You're so strong," he wheezes, grinning at her once she puts him down. 

Kara shrugs, "You're fast." 

Barry laughs, "Touché. Take care, okay?" 

"Always." Kara squeezes his hand one more time before she steps into the elevator alongside Alex, J'onn, Cisco, and a barely holding it together Mon-El. She waves to Barry as the doors close, and they make their way back further underground, the only sound Mon-El's occasional sniffles and the mechanical whirring of the elevator. 

Once they reach their destination, Cisco taps on his computer a few times, and then a shimmering breach opens up before them. 

"Alright, you guys are all set. Earth-38 coordinates set and all." 

"Thanks, Cisco." 

"Anything for the Girl of Steel," he jokes, grinning at Kara. 

J'onn shakes his hand, thanking him for all he's done for them, and Alex gives him a smile and a nod of recognition, which he returns in kind. 

And with that, they all join hands and step into the breach. 

Alex is less thrown by it this time around, although she still finds it strange and of course, infinitely fascinating. As soon as they enter the swirling blue light, they're out of it, stumbling out onto the DEO's main floor, exactly where they'd left from. 

"It's good to be home," Kara sighs, clapping her hands together. 

"That it is," J'onn replies, smiling at them both before walking off to head to the control room to see how things have been running without him around. Mon-El gives them both a mournful look before stalking off, curled into himself, his wounded pride stuck between his legs. Kara watches him go with a hint of sadness in her eyes; no matter how much it pleases Alex to watch him get put in his place, she knows how much it must hurt Kara. She knows that Kara cared for him, and if she's sorry about how any of this went down it’s that Kara had to lose someone else she had connected to who wasn't human. 

Kara turns to Alex, apprehension in her expression, "Do you want to come over? And y'know..." She trails off, biting her lip and avoiding eye contact, "talk?" 

Alex feels her stomach tighten up, "Okay. Yeah, sure." 

Kara chances another glance Alex's way, a sheepish smile on her face. 

"I'll meet you there in a half an hour? I'll bring pizza." 

Alex nods, and Kara turns around, her cape whipping in the wind as she takes off into the night sky, the force of her lift off blowing Alex's hair, making her stumble just a bit backwards. It's good to be home, but now she's terrified of what Kara will want to talk about. What voicing the kiss will mean for her...for them. Alex isn't sure if she's ready to face that reality. 

Either way, she knows she can't run away from this particular situation, even if she wanted to. They have to talk, and Alex has to accept whatever the consequences are. 

She pulls out her phone, sending Maggie a quick text that they returned safely and that Kara is okay, and that they were going to have a sister's night, but that she'd see her tomorrow, trying not to feel sickeningly guilty about what she's already done. 

She descends the stairs into the parking garage, waving to the agent on duty as she climbs on top of her motorcycle, securing her helmet and driving out into the streets. She tries not to let her mind wander as she drives, focusing on the sights and sounds, the feel of the wind whipping along her body, the smell of hot asphalt and the murmur of traffic and car horns and commuters rushing by her. She takes the long way to Kara's apartment complex, taking her time to get there, trying to calm her racing heart and the fact that she feels like she could throw up at any minute. When she knows her time is just about up, she parks half a block from Kara's building, securing her helmet at the back of her bike and smoothing out the wrinkles in her quarter zip, fidgeting with the bulkiness of her tactical belt as she makes her way up to Kara's apartment, her palms sweaty as she knocks on the door. 

Kara opens it, her hair back in a messy ponytail, wearing one of Alex's old Stanford t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants, the smell of fresh pizza wafting from the kitchen. 

"Hey," she says shyly, and Alex knows that Kara can hear the erratic beating of her heart.

"Hi," Alex breathes in return, walking into the apartment as Kara closes the door behind them. Alex strips off her tactical belt, snagging two pieces of pizza and a can of soda before she retreats to the couch, sitting down awkwardly as Kara follows, four pieces piled high on her plate, another one already halfway gone. 

"Using super speed to eat isn't fair y'know," Alex jokes, trying to lighten the awkward tension surrounding them. 

Kara grins, cheeks full of bread and cheese, "Not my fault you can't keep up, slowpoke." Alex smiles fondly in return, the banter easy and comforting. 

They lapse into silence, chewing into the void between them. Alex has never felt this much space between them, physical or not, since that first year Kara was on Earth. It's scary. 

Kara swallows her last piece of pizza, nowhere near done yet, but setting aside her plate, pulling her legs up pretzel style on the armchair across from Alex, gaze intense. 

"So we should talk about what happened," she says softly. 

Alex takes a sip of her soda, avoiding eye contact, allowing Kara to take the reins. 

"You kissed me," she blurts, wasting no time getting to the point of it all. Kara was always good at being blunt. 

"I did," Alex manages to choke out, tossing her empty plate onto the coffee table, her hands twisting around themselves in a fit of nerves. 

"Why?" 

"I don't know!" Alex lies, because she can't say it out loud. She only just realized her feelings. She needs time to process, she can't just broadcast them to her sister. 

"Do you..." Kara trails off, apprehensive, "Do you...like me?" 

Alex feels her face heat up in embarrassment. 

"You know what, can we not talk about this? I don't want to talk about this." 

Kara shoots her a sympathetic smile, "This is something fairly big, Alex. We kind of need to talk about it." 

They sit in stubborn silence for a few minutes. 

"I'm not mad," Kara says, "I'm not mad that you kissed me. I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn't crossed my mind at least once before." Alex looks up, her stomach tumbling over itself at the earnest look on Kara's face. 

"I was an outsider, and you were my whole world. It was hard not to have a crush on you back then." Back then. Alex didn't think two words could ever hurt so much. If she thought her first rejection was bad, this one was going to be even worse. 

"I'm sorry I kissed you. I just...I don’t know. I don’t know what came over me. I was so afraid I was going to lose you, and it just happened.”

Alex doesn’t want to deal with this. She should get up; she should leave and never look back and pretend that she didn’t realize she was probably in love with her sister. But Kara’s eyes are rooting her to the couch, and she can’t tear herself away even if she tried, and Alex has never been so afraid of something in her entire life.

She averts her gaze from Kara’s, trying to center herself, to stop the erratic beating of her heart and the queasy feeling in her stomach. She doesn’t want to confront her feelings. She can’t. She wants to ignore them, to pretend that they don’t exist. And if she can’t do that, then she wishes she had a glass of scotch right about now; she could use some liquid courage to make this all a little bit easier.

“Alex,” Kara whispers, reverent and serious, her eyes shimmering in the soft light of the apartment, and Alex can’t breathe, she can’t breathe, “whatever you feel…I feel it too. I think I always have.”

Tears fall from Alex’s eyes, unbidden. She can’t keep the anguish out of her expression, and she presses her hand, trembling, against her mouth, trying to stifle the overwhelming emotion.

Kara crosses the distance between them, kneeling down in front of her, sliding her hands up onto her knees. Alex can’t help the shiver that rushes down her spine at the contact, and she hates herself for the way she feels about someone who’s supposed to be her sister. She’s supposed to protect her, not… _desire_ her.

“Alex, it’s okay. It’s okay.” She shakes her head vigorously, crying openly now.

“It’s not,” she sobs out, shoulders shaking, hanging her head, “It’s not.”

Kara reaches out, grabbing one of her hands, the warmth of her skin comforting to Alex’s distressed state. She leans up, pressing her forehead against Alex’s.

“We’re gonna be okay,” she says, tears shining in her own eyes, making them look as blue as the ocean, “I promise.”

Alex nearly believes her.

“I shouldn’t,” she gasps, “I shouldn’t feel how I feel about you. You’re my _sister_.”

Kara sits back, tilting her head to the side in that inquisitive way that always makes Alex smile, gazing up at her with a soft, watery smile on her lips.

“We have always been more than that and you know it,” Kara returns, stroking her thumb across Alex’s knuckles. That’s something that Alex can’t deny; they have always been something beyond definition. Sister, but not, all at the same time. There’s always been something between them, more than what they were told should be, and she thinks back to how hard Eliza was on her, on them together, back to the boys in high school who would leer at Alex and insinuate that she and Kara must be sleeping together or something more crude, that would always earn them bloody noses and black eyes for daring to say something gross about their relationship, and all of the psychologists they spoke to in order to help Kara adjust to Earth, who always looked at Alex and Kara like they should know something, and now she thinks that maybe others knew how they felt long before either of them realized there was something stronger stretching between them.

“I know I feel something for you, Alex,” Kara states, her eyes shining bright and sad, “I don’t know exactly what it is, what it means, but it’s there. It’s always been there, the more I think about it. That kiss brought it all back.”

Alex shakes her head again, “I…I can’t. Kara, I want…” She can’t finish the sentence, but she knows that Kara understands what she means. _I want you_ , “But I don’t think I can do this. I’m too afraid, Kara. Of me, of us, of Mom, of the _world_. I can’t, Kara, I can’t. We should just forget that it ever happened. Go back to how it was before.”

Now it’s Kara’s turn to shake her head, “Whatever’s changing between us, we can figure it out together. Just like we always have. We don’t have to have an answer right now, at this very moment. I’m not ready either. All I’m asking for, Alex, is a chance to _try_. Don’t run away from me, please.”

No matter how much she aches, how desperately she wants Kara, the magnitude of the feelings welling up inside of her, she doesn’t know if she will ever not be terrified. Eliza would disown her for this; she’d never want to speak to her again. She can hear the disappointment, the disgust in her voice, the look in her eyes. Alex doesn’t want to see that. She can’t. It would break her. And Maggie would never speak to her again, and no matter what happens in the future, Alex wants Maggie in her life. She loves Maggie, she knows that she does, and these feelings for Kara that feel a lot like love too are only making things worse. She doesn’t want to lose Maggie. She’s not just her girlfriend, she’s her best friend. One of the only friends she’s ever had that’s only been _hers_. The thought of not having that anymore is something she never wants to see come to fruition. Besides, what would everyone else say? How would J’onn react, how would James and Winn? She wouldn’t want to hide forever, but being with Kara doesn’t feel like something she could do in the light, out of fear of judgment, of hatred, of disgust. Not to mention that she doesn’t know if she could ever be enough for Kara. If she could ever give her everything she deserves. Alex is broken and damaged and Kara deserves someone more whole than she will ever be. She’s too afraid.

She’s too afraid to try, to move; to kiss Kara, to walk away. She’s torn, stuck between two terrifying realities: She can throw herself forward, to Kara, or she can get up and walk away and throw away everything she never knew she wanted until now. She can’t do either; the thought of being with Kara and of losing her in an intimate way both a choice she can’t make. She can’t do either, and she’s trapped. She can barely breathe, the weight of this all collapsing onto her chest, her heart threatening to burst.

“I…I don’t know, Kara. I don’t know.” She cries again, full-fledged sobs now, and she collapses into Kara’s waiting arms, feeling her strength wrapping around her, burying her face in her neck, drinking in the scent of her. All Kara does is hold her tight, breathing gently against her, the rise and fall of her chest a grounding influence.

When Alex think she’s found a modicum of her composure again, she pushes away, curling back into the couch as Kara drops her hands back to her lap.

“It’s just us,” Kara whispers, tangling their hands together again, “You don’t have to be afraid. I love you.” Her eyes are bright, and blue, sincere and damning, and Alex has always been a goner.

“I love you too,” she breathes, taking in Kara’s beauty, the softness in her gaze, the strength of her shoulders and the curl of her hair, ethereal in the soft lighting of the apartment, kindness and openness and understanding the only thing she feels from her. And Alex loves her. God help her, she loves her.

“I’m so afraid,” she says again, “But maybe…maybe someday…” she trails off. She’s not ready right now. She knows she might never be ready. But how can she deny Kara right now? How can she deny herself a chance at whatever this might be?

Kara nods in understanding again, and Alex really doesn’t know why she’s agreeing. Why she’s putting her heart on the line, why she’s stepping into the scariest, roughest water she’s ever known. Completely uncharted territory. The safety’s off, the gun is firing, and Alex can’t go back. (She’s not sure she wants to, either).

Kara smiles, happy and sad and worried and thrilled all at once.

“We’ll take it slow. I need space, too. And time. I have to figure out me before I can figure out us. I need to deal with Mon-El, and figure out how I feel about him now, how I balance Supergirl and Kara, and I need to repair things with people I’ve hurt. And I need to figure out how I really feel about you, too. I think you need that too. We don’t have to declare our feelings on top of a roof in front of all of National City in the morning. We just need time. To navigate, to understand. To be there for each other. It’s just us. You and me against the world.”

Alex closes her eyes trying to stave off her tears, “You and me.”

“That’s not so scary, huh?”

Alex shakes her head, letting out a wet laugh, “No, I guess not.” Kara grins, hopping up to sit on the couch next to Alex. There’s something about the way that Kara speaks, so hopeful and optimistic and _real_ , that makes Alex feel hopeful herself; like they could do this, if they wanted to. Like they could make it.

Alex doesn’t know if they can, but for a moment, she’s not afraid.

They sit in relative silence for what feels like hours, drinking in each other’s company, reassuring themselves that this is real, they are real, and nothing can change that, not anymore. Alex feels like a heavy burden has been simultaneously lifted from and deposited on her shoulders. Whatever happens after this, it’s not going to be easy.

Finally, Alex speaks into the quiet, her fear returning.

“I should go.”

Kara nods, “Yeah.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Alex rasps, her voice deeper from the crying, making her way across the apartment to the front door, picking up her tactical belt on the way. Kara doesn’t respond, only follows just behind her, ever so beautiful, and it makes Alex weak. They stare at each other for a few pregnant moments, blinking against the emotions they see reflected in each other’s eyes.

Finally, Alex backs out into the hallway.

“Goodnight, Kara,” she says, her chest aching.

“Goodnight, Alex,” Kara returns, smiling soft and gentle, before she closes the door behind her.

Alex lets out a shuddering breath, emotionally drained to the point of being physically exhausted. She doesn’t know what the future holds for them; she’s terrified of it, but somehow also excited for it, beneath all the layers of guilt and self loathing. She knows that she and Kara will always be family, no matter what course their relationship takes from this moment on. It’s a comforting thought, and it gives her the strength she needs to move forward.

With one final nod, she makes her way to the stairs, feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulls it out as she begins to trudge down the stairs, finding a single text from Maggie lighting up her screen.

_Glad that you’re safe and that Kara is okay. See you tomorrow. Sleep tight <3 _

A fresh wave of guilt washes over her, but she can’t deal with it right now. She’s dealt with way too much already. When the day is fresh and Alex feels less like she’s being pulled in a thousand different directions, she’ll try to figure out what to do about Maggie. Wonderful, sweet, understanding Maggie, who’s been Alex’s strength and light for the last six months. She can’t lose her, even for Kara. Alex suddenly feels worse than she did before, but she can’t do this right now. She can’t think about Kara or Maggie or anyone else right now. So she shoves her phone back into her pocket, blinking away fresh tears, because that’s a problem Alex can’t handle tonight.


End file.
